Alasdair Ross, reproduced from his From Portman Road to the San Siro blog.
Saturday 9 November 2013, Histon 1 Vauxhall Motors 2, Conference North - Glassworld Stadium
Football has the ability to make you laugh, smile, cry, following a team can get you to feel all those emotions - even in a space of a few minutes.
Yesterday, two of us had morning commitments so we could not make the trip to Blackpool to see Ipswich play so to get our football fix we took the short trip up the A14 to see Histon take on Vauxhall Motors, whilst our mate Kempy took the train north.
The rest of the report should be about the neat ground, the two Vauxhall players booked for fighting each other and then Histon taking the lead before Vauxhall got their act together and ended up winning 2-1 giving myself and my mate Colin an entertaining afternoon, but instead the game was just the start of an evening of mixed emotions.
At the end of the game we rushed to the club bar to see how Ipswich were doing - emotion of surprise as we were still winning 2-1 but within seconds, we saw that Blackpool had drawn level - so 91 minutes and 2-2 but then 93 minutes and we were winning again.
A quick text to our mate Kempy in Blackpool and he replied "Won!!!". So we drove away happy - 90 minutes later and our emotions are very different, Kempy had collapsed in Blackpool and died.
Shock is the emotion I felt followed by anger and sadness, football was why we had become friends but we had stayed close friends with football just getting in the way, players and managers often get the title legend, many do not deserve it but when it comes to supporters - Kempy was an ITFC legend.
The away matches were a social occasion and football was just a small part of that day - Kempy was fun, intelligent, knowledgeable and loyal. His views on modern football were obvious when you knew what he liked best - it was spending a cold December up at the training ground, with 20 other fans watching the Academy - no flash cars, big egos - just pure simple football. Football for me will never be the same again - Michael Kemp RIP. There’s a thread regarding Kempy on the TWTD board here, while Tyrone Mings and Paul Anderson have paid their tributes on Twitter, as have the club and Blackpool. Sad to hear the news about the @Official_ITFC fan who passed away at the Blackpool game yday. Thoughts are with the family x– Paul Anderson (@P18NDO) November 10, 2013
Kempy, left, with Alasdair
Thoughts are with the Ipswich fan's family who tragically died from a heart attack on the way home from Blackpool yesterday. Horrific news 😔– Tyrone Mings (@tyronemings1) November 10, 2013
MICHAEL KEMP: The Club would like to pass on their deepest condolences to the family of Michael Kemp, who tragically passed away on Saturday
— Ipswich Town FC (@Official_ITFC) November 11, 2013
Blackpool FC would like to pass on condolences to the family of @Official_ITFC supporter Michael Kemp, who sadly passed away on Saturday.
— Blackpool FC (@BFC1887) November 11, 2013